Mosquitoes in Winter?

I witnessed something the other day, that about made me pack up and move to the Arctic Circle.... A MOSQUITO! Yes, my eyes were not deceiving me. A blood sucking mosquito, in the dead of winter.

Let's face it, one of the BIG perks to winter is not having to worry about those disease carrying suckers. But, with the warmer than normal temperatures, it is not that far fetched. You see, most people think that cold temperatures kills all mosquitoes. But, that is not the case.

The mosquito responsible for transmitting Zika virus, Aedes aegypti, overwinters in the egg stage. As temperatures begin to fall below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, adult females deposit their final batch of eggs in water-holding items containing as little as a half an inch of water. The adults will eventually die, while the newly deposited eggs enter a state of diapause, a process that suspends their development during the coldest months.

Basically, when the the water the eggs were laid in thaws, the eggs will hatch. Bringing those blood sucking vampire bugs back from the dead.